Highway to Hell
by swtsarahndipity
Summary: Delaney Parker is a twenty-eight year old professional who is suddenly jolted from her life when she is told she is a prophet placed in this world to assist the Winchesters in saving the world. (This takes place in Season 5 ; mostly T rating but there will be some M content in the future.)
1. Chapter 1

Delaney Parker jolted awake, a cold sweat overtook her body, her breathing labored. She clutched at her chest and tugged at the damp cotton t-shirt sticking to her skin.

Her hand went to her forehead as she tried to control her breathing and comprehend the bizarre dream she had just had.

She reached for her pen and pad of paper she kept on her nightstand. Her hand seemed to take off writing before her mind could process anything.

xx

_May 7, 2009 – 3:05am_

_A tall, built man named Sam wandered into the dark field, a shorter man named Dean behind him. They were brothers—Dean older by five years._

_In the field stood thirty people, all looking towards the sky. Another man, being used as a temporary vessel for the dark angel, Lucifer, dug dirt to cover many bodies—mainly women and children as well as anyone unable to embody his soldiers of demons._

_Dean aimed the colt at Lucifer's head and a shot rang out in the dark, midnight sky. It was Dean's mission to end Lucifer's life and end the battle between the angels and demons._

_Unbeknown to the brothers, the colt did not work as planned. Lucifer coughed and groaned—only momentarily pained from the bullet wound. He informed the brothers that the colt was useless on him._

_The boys stumbled backwards towards the brush of the woods, defeated._

_An angel in a tan trench coat appeared, his vessel being a man in his thirties named Jimmy. The angel, however, was called Castiel. He silently and swiftly removed the boys from the woods just as Lucifer completed the sacrifice and the Horseman of Death was released into the world. The Apocalypse was to continue._

xx

Delaney set the pen down on the nightstand with a shaky hand and took a breath as she glanced over the words that had spilled onto the page.

"Hello, Delaney," a gruff voice sounded from the corner of her bedroom.

In the black of the night, she made out three figures of men.

She yelped as she reached to turn on the lamp on her nightstand. In the light, she made out the figures from the dream—Castiel, Dean and Sam.

She scrambled out of her bed and grabbed the baseball bat she kept near for protection.

"Stay away from me!" She screamed as she stood before them in her oversized Pink Floyd t-shirt, her hair still damp from her nightmare.

"Jesus, Cas," the man named Dean groaned. "Did you have to do this in the middle of the night in the poor girl's bedroom?!"

"There's no time, Dean," Castiel murmured as he kept his gaze on Delaney.

"This isn't real," Delaney breathed as her heart raced against the walls of her chest. "You're not real. You're from my dream. Hell, I must still be dreaming." She kept the baseball bat raised, ready to swing at any given moment.

The man she recognized as Sam raised his hands in front of him in a surrendering motion. "I know this seems crazy to you," he said, his eyes wide and open in a caring manner. "My name is Sam and this is my brother, Dean and our friend, Cas. You…you have a way of seeing things that happen to us."

"You're a prophet of the Lord," Castiel interjected.

Delaney's eyes narrowed on the so-called angel. "I'm a _what_ of _who_?!"

"Dammit, Cas!" Dean yelled as he rolled his eyes. "Can you just keep your mouth shut?"

Castiel ignored Dean and continued. "You just had your first vision. You saw Dean and Sam try to kill Lucifer but they failed and the Apocalypse is coming."

Delaney's body began to shake. "Get out of my house if you're real. Get out!" Tears of frustrations burned her eyes.

"We cannot," Castiel spoke again. "Your life has been prepared by the Lord. You have a path you must follow or else the world will indeed come to an end."

Delaney's entire body shook as if she were a leaf on a tree in the middle of a thunderstorm. She couldn't breathe; her chest tightened and her hearing became muffled. Her eyes blurred over. She vaguely heard Dean ask if she was alright before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell against a glass table stand by her bedroom door. All went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Delaney's eyes slowly fluttered open. She couldn't place where she was. The room was dimly lit from the sun shining through the windows and she was lying on her back on a couch.

She slowly began to sit up until the aching pain shot like daggers up her spine. She winced and glanced down to see bandages covering her forearm.

"Take it easy," a deep voice came from the entrance to, what she assumed, was a living room. It was Dean. He had a glass of water in his hand. "You had a pretty nasty fall."

Her heart pounded in her chest as she processed everything. "W-Where am I? How did I get here? I have to be dreaming," her breathing was labored, something she was getting uncomfortably used to. Dean took a seat in front of her on a wooden coffee table.

"Just breathe for a minute, alright?" Dean held his hand up to hush her and placed the glass of water on the table. Sam entered the room and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"We know how crazy this sounds," Sam began.

"Crazy?! You guys kidnapped me! Are you rapists?! Mass murderers?!" Her voice was raised as she tried with all her might to sit up again. "What did you do to me?!" She looked back down at her bandages.

"Look, sweetheart," Dean said more firmly this time, his voice gruff and frustrated. "Cas zapped us into your room—he's kind of socially awkward…"

"Or incredibly socially awkward," Sam interrupted from his spot in the doorway.

"You passed out and fell on a glass table," Dean explained the wounds on her arms and from how she felt, the gashes on her back. She felt the spot on her head that was throbbing. "So I got the glass out and cleaned you up."

Delaney looked down and noticed she had been dressed in a man's white undershirt and sweatpants, neither of which belonged to her.

"You undressed me?!" She felt her face flush at the thought.

"We're sorry," Sam moved closer and sat next to Dean. "We understand that this is crazy for you and uncomfortable. We didn't mean to invade your personal space."

"You took me from my home, undressed me and brought me…here," she breathed as she looked around again. "Where the hell am I?"

"It's a long story. We'll explain everything," Sam began.

And so they did. Delaney listened and tried to comprehend what these two brothers told her.

It took nearly an hour for the boys to explain. Angels. Demons. Hunting _things_.

Delaney managed to move to a sitting position as she stared at her hands.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked softly, his eyes caring and kind. Delaney finally met his gaze and let out a long, deep breath. "I know it's a lot to take in."

She shook her head and heaved another sigh. "I-I don't know what to think, to be honest. I mean…what does this mean?" Delaney asked cautiously as she carefully placed her hand on her forehead. She tried desperately to comprehend what Sam and Dean had said.

"There's another prophet much like you, though he is further along in his wisdom from the Lord," Castiel explained. "There will be many more prophets to come, for it is your duty to write the word of God for future humanity to follow."

Delaney stared inquisitively at Castiel, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "But why me? I'm not even religious! I've never prayed to a God before. How am I supposed to write something I can't even understand?"

"The Lord gives you His word in your sleep. It is demanded of you to record your dreams from here on out whether you understand it or not," Castiel demanded, emotionless.

"So you're telling me I've lost control of my life? That I'm living to simply record information for your benefit?" She looked back at the brothers.

Sam glanced at Dean. "I know how it sounds and how it seems," Sam started softly, his demeanor softer than Castiel's. "We don't always understand it right away, either. What you're seeing in your dreams is happening to us, or has already happened. It's important; more important than we can even imagine."

"We're trying to save the world, here," Dean continued. "Your dreams could help us do that."

Delaney glanced out the window and noticed the apparent junkyard before her. "What about my home? My job? Can I continue to live my life?"

The brothers looked to Castiel, unsure themselves of what to tell her.

"You're a journalist for _The Los Angeles Times_," Castiel said, matter-of-factly. Delaney's eyes widened at the information he obviously knew about her. "This is helpful, as it gives you the opportunity to predict and inform where the demons and angels are located."

Delaney's eyes widened once more. "And how am I supposed to know that?"

"I know it sounds crazy…" Sam began.

"Dude, everything sounds crazy right now," she managed a small smile. Sam smiled a small smile back.

"Welcome to our world, sweetheart," Dean chuckled.

"There are things that happen that people can't understand and they usually sum it up to natural disasters," Sam explained. "Electrical storms, unexplained disasters in remote areas. Those usually lead to demons and right now, the angels are after them. So, we're guessing wherever the demons are, the angels will follow. That's the kind of thing you can help out with, being an informant as a journalist."

Delaney nodded slowly as she continued to process their words.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Sam breathed a sigh. "We'll help you as much as we can."

"Are these angels or demons going to come after me?" Fear started to burn in Delaney's chest as she looked between the boys and then Castiel.

"We won't let anything happen to you," Dean replied immediately. "You're a part of this now. Our job is to protect people. You're included in that."

She nodded and tucked a strand of light brown hair behind her ear.

"Cas has a way of finding you at all times. But that means other angels can, too," Dean explained.

"The other angels do not know of your existence, yet," Castiel informed. "They will."

"But when that time comes, Cas will take care of it," Sam offered a small, reassuring smile.

"It ain't gonna be a walk in the park," an older man wheeled into the living room in a wheelchair. "But we'll help."

"This is Bobby, the hunter we told you about," Sam introduced.

"And you must be Delaney," Bobby grinned. "Glad to see you're up and movin'."

"Laney," she breathed. "You can call me Laney."

Dean smirked. "So you're in?"

Laney chuckled. "Do I have a choice?"

**AN: Hello, everyone! So I completely failed at adding an author's note on my last chapter—this is my first time posting on so I'm new to all of this, bare with me ;). Thanks for reading! Comments are greatly appreciated!**

**xx-**

**SM**


	3. Chapter 3

Castiel demanded that Laney stay the night with the boys. The uncertainty inside of her had been replaced with fear, and though she didn't know these men (and angel) from Adam, she somehow felt as though she trusted them. So staying the night at this stranger's home brought her peace of mind.

She stared at the ceiling as she contemplated the last twenty-four hours.

"Can't sleep?" A deep voice came from the doorway. Dean entered cautiously. He and Sam had decided to sleep in the basement bunker to give Laney some space and privacy.

She smiled and let out a soft laugh. "Guess I have too much on my mind."

Dean nodded. "Understandable," he shoved his hands into his jean pockets and Laney took notice. The man must not own many clothes if he slept in jeans. If she understood his life correctly, she knew he must spend most, if not all, of his time on the road.

"Weren't you terrified?" She asked as she rolled onto her side to face him. Dean took a seat on the coffee table and looked down at the ground as he thought about her question.

"Sometimes," he nodded. He surprised himself with how comfortable he felt with this girl. "In the moments we were in serious shit, yeah. But I mean, this was our life. We didn't have a choice."

"Neither do I, apparently," Laney looked down and picked at a loose string on the plaid-print couch.

"Hey," Dean said to pull her attention back to him. "When you understand what we do, you'll understand why we do it."

His tone was serious, the pressure from his gaze felt debilitating to Laney.

"We _save_ people," he stressed, his tone wanting her to understand. "We hunt things that kill people."

Laney nodded slowly and tried to understand how to phrase what she was about to say. "But in order to do that…you have to kill people…"

"Not people," Dean corrected. "Things." He thought it over as Laney moved into a sitting position and stretched her elbows out to rest on her knees. Dean licked his lips as he contemplated continuing. "Look, you've had a really long day…you should try to sleep. I think we've filled you in enough for now."

Laney wanted to argue, but she figured he might be right. She rubbed her hands down the thighs of the sweatpants she had on. "You're probably right." She nodded once before continuing. "But I know sure as hell I'm not sleeping tonight…or not right now, anyway. You think Bobby has some hot chocolate or something?"

Dean raised his brow. "Not too sure about the hot chocolate, but I could almost guarantee the 'or something'."

Laney frowned but stood to follow Dean the short walk into the kitchen. He popped open a cabinet, knowing fully well his way around Bobby's home. He pulled out a bottle of Jamison and two small rocks glasses.

"Ah," Laney managed a smirk as she leaned across the countertop on her elbows. "The 'or something' category usually leaves me with a headache but with the day I've had, why not?"

Dean chuckled and nodded as he set the goods down in front of her. He unscrewed the cap to the whiskey and poured two glasses, straight up. "Yeah, Bobby doesn't usually have this kinda good stuff, but when he does I find a way to take advantage of the situation. It's the only thing that'll put me to sleep these days."

Laney nodded as she took her glass and tipped her head to him in thanks. "To not going _totally_ insane," she smirked as she held her glass in front of her.

Dean smiled and tapped his glass against hers. "I could drink to that." They made eye contact as they both took a sip.

Dean was impressed with how smoothly Laney seemed to take her liquor down. She only winced for a moment before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Whiskey woman?" Dean asked as they moved back towards the living room. Laney resumed her spot on the couch, but this time Dean took a seat next to her, leaving enough room for another person.

"I guess I owe that to my college days," she shrugged as she glanced down at the caramel colored liquor. "You learn how to hold your alcohol when your roommate is in a sorority and you're invited to every social."

"Sororities, huh?" Dean couldn't help the smirk that found his lips. "I bet you have a lot of fun stories."

"Number one rule of the sorority code," Laney leaned a little closer before whispering, "We'll never tell."

Dean shook his head with a laugh and took another swig from his glass. Laney followed suit.

"What about you? You don't seem like a frat kinda guy to me," Laney eyed her company as Dean moved his glass around and watched the liquid within.

"Thanks, I think," he frowned. "I didn't go to college. That was more Sammy's thing."

"Ah, right," she nodded. "Too many monsters, not enough time, right?"

Dean smirked in Laney's direction. There was something about this woman he couldn't seem to put his finger on. Sure, when they met her she was slightly abrupt and somewhat aggressive. But who wouldn't be?

"What?" She caught onto his stare and seemed to fold under the pressure. Her cheeks warmed up with a pale crimson color and she found her eyes averted to the glass in her hands.

"Nothing," Dean shook his head and broke his trance from the woman beside him. "It's just…you're different."

"Like crazy, psychic, prophet different? Or this girl talks too much, especially when she starts drinking, different?" Laney laughed softly as she took another drink from her glass.

Dean felt like he had smiled one too many times tonight, but he couldn't hide the grin he felt creep upon his lips. "Just different," he shrugged and let the comment fall from there.

Before either could say another word, a slight breeze blew by. "She needs to sleep," Castiel appeared just in front of the window, his silhouette haunting almost.

"Jesus, Cas," Dean groaned as he closed his eyes for a moment and Laney grasped at her chest, both taken by surprise. "Can you use a door or something?"

"But why?" Cas seemed genuinely thoughtful. Dean just shook his head and stood from his spot on the couch.

"Forget it," he mumbled. "Well, angels orders." He nodded back towards Laney. "Get some rest, you're probably gonna need it."

Laney nodded for a moment and glanced at the hardwood floor below her feet. "Um, Dean?" She hesitated for a moment as she gnawed at her bottom lip. She was hesitant to ask her next question as she eyed the makeshift bed in the window bay she assumed one of the boys would regularly use. She went back on the thought as soon as it came. "Nevermind. Goodnight." She smiled up at the man.

Dean knew better as he eyed her carefully. He, too, glanced at the window bed and then towards her. "Hey, would you mind if I slept over there? It's a little cramped with Sasquatch downstairs. Unless that makes you uncomfortable," he hurriedly added in the last part, just in case his thought process wasn't correctly reading hers.

He relaxed when he watched her smile and nod. "That would be great."

Castiel made himself scarce, yet again, as Dean made up the makeshift bed in the window bay. He moved his glass to the floor as he pulled up the blanket and rested his head on a small throw pillow. Just as he closed his eyes, he heard Laney whisper.

"Hey Dean?"

"Hmm?" He glanced over towards her. In the dim light from the moon he could make out her biting her bottom lip once more.

"Thanks."

Both fell asleep with smiles on their faces, something neither thought was possible.

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Sorry for the delay; I had some last-minute end of summer vacations that came together so I've been getting settled back into the swing of things. I hope you're all enjoying it! I know it's moving slightly slow at the moment, but it'll pick up shortly. Please let me know of any feedback you may have **** Thanks! **

**xx**

**SM**


	4. Chapter 4

Dean and Laney had only been a sleep for maybe an hour before it started; before he heard her scream.

Laney saw it all happening as if she was actually there, in the moment. She wanted to stop it; she barely knew these men but she felt connected to them as if they were family or dear friends she wanted to help protect. She tried to yell out, but her words seemed to get lost in silence; not a sound came from her lips. She watched in horror as the scene played out in front of her. She desperately attempted to move, to run after the woman with the red hair she somehow knew was named Anna, but she couldn't. It was as though she was bound or her hands were chained. Her body was still.

Meanwhile Dean, Sam and Castiel all watched as Laney's body contorted on the couch and her face winced as if she were in pain. She let out audible gasps in between screaming various things, mostly "no" and Dean and Sam's names.

"Cas, come on, man," Dean's brow furrowed as he watched the girl physically struggle in her sleep. "We can't just stand here, we have to wake her up…we have to do _something_!" His frustration was clearly growing.

"We must not," Castiel watched closely as the girl fought through her vision. "She must capture the entire vision before she is disturbed. We cannot risk losing any pertinent information."

Dean glared at the so-called angel in a trench coat as he simply gazed at Laney, who was still thrashing uncontrollably. "Son of a bitch, Cas! Look at her!"

Castiel pulled his gaze away from Laney momentarily and frowned at Dean. "I am looking. She is fine, Dean. It is the vision."

Dean winced and looked back at her.

Sam's face formed a scowl and he huffed and puffed, his jaw tense. "I'm giving it sixty seconds. Then I'm waking her up."

"Sounds good to me," Dean mumbled. Before Castiel could even argue, Laney pulled her body to a sitting position, her eyes wide and a loud gasp erupting from deep within her as if she had been drowning and just took her first breath.

She clutched at the material of the sofa with one hand and brought her other hand to her chest, tears pooled in her big brown eyes.

Dean dropped to his knees immediately and put a hand on her back gingerly, still aware of the stitches he had only administered the day before. He held her up carefully. He swallowed as he noticed her lean into his touch; she was comfortable with him. He had already discovered he, too, was comfortable with her. He had to pull himself from his thoughts to the anxiety-stricken girl before him.

"Hey," Dean coaxed calmly. "You're alright, just take a minute. You're okay. It was just a dream."

"It was not a dream," Castiel moved in quickly to stand before Laney, just next to Dean. "It was a vision from God. You must tell me exactly what you saw." Castiel didn't budge.

Laney stared at him blankly for a moment before bringing her hand to her forehead and squinting her eyes shut tightly. "Uh, I-I'm not sure, exactly—there was an angel, her name was Anna. She—she went back in time, I think," Laney squinted, still struggling to decipher everything she saw as she spoke. "She went to find John and Mary Winchester before Dean or Sam are born." She looked back at Dean, this time the tears seemed to find her eyes once more. "Cas, you zapped Dean and Sam back to 1978 to stop her but they didn't…they couldn't…" her words trailed off, unable to finish.

It seemed so simple to write her dream down last time because she didn't know Sam or Dean. She was involved, but she wasn't involved to the degree of actually feeling connected to the boys. In her mind, they weren't real.

"Hey, it's okay," Dean shook his head and lowered his face so he could be eye level with her. He placed his hand on her cheek, his thumb swept below her eye to catch the first tear before it could fall. "We can change these things, alright? You get these…_predictions_ but we can change them. Me and Sam, we've done it before." He glanced back at his younger brother who nodded at Laney.

"It's true," Sam piped up. "We've changed things Chuck has told us in the past." Laney vaguely remembered the boys mentioning the other prophet they had found, Chuck Shurley in their long, confusing briefing. "You don't need to be scared, okay? We can handle it." Sam's long gaze felt like he was staring straight through her into her soul, but it was a comforting gaze.

She nodded once. Before she could say anything else, Castiel moved forward and placed two fingers upon her forehead. Her eyes rolled back and before she fell limp in Dean's arms, she heard him yell, "Dammit, Cas!"

**xx**

Laney felt herself take another deep breath as she bolted out of a somewhat deep sleep and sat straight up once more. Dean placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. She could feel his thumb rubbing small, gentle circles on her skin below the material of the shirt she had on.

Before anyone said anything, Dean shot a knowing glare at Castiel.

Laney wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she saw Cas roll his eyes. "Laney, I apologize for forcing you into sleep with my abilities in order to read your mind and see your premonition. However, I do not apologize for stealing your premonition—."

Cas was cut off by Dean clearing his throat, his gaze only firmer than before. Laney assumed Dean had demanded Castiel offer an apology when she woke up, and this was clearly his idea of being remorseful.

"Dean, I was honest and I apologized, just as you said," Cas was clearly confused. "I must not allow details from her premonitions to go unnoticed."

Laney held up her hand to silence everyone and managed a smile after a sigh escaped her lips. "It's alright," she assured. Both Sam and Dean looked shocked to even hear her say that. "I'm fine, everything's fine. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but Cas is probably right…" everyone except Cas looked shocked to hear her say that. "I'm new at this. I don't know what you need to know or if I'm going to miss a detail that is crazy important."

Castiel took this as his cue to explain what he had seen when 'zapping' into Laney's brain. "Anna will travel back to 1978, in fact she may already be there. I have no way of tracking her at this time. Much like Laney said, she will set out to kill John and Mary Winchester, your parents," he signaled to Dean and Sam. "Her mission is to end the lives of your parents before you can be born, so the vessel for Lucifer in Sam will never exist. In Laney's vision, she succeeds. The vision concludes with John Winchester being killed by Anna. Sam, you also appear to be dead."

His bluntness still shocked Laney and she sunk back into the comfort of the sofa to take in what she had clearly seen, but hadn't necessarily made sense of (or maybe she hadn't wanted it to make sense).

Dean, detecting her uneasiness, rubbed her shoulder once more.

"I'm serious," he looked her square in the eye. "We will figure this out." He nodded once and then looked up to Sam, then to Cas. "What now?"

"We should probably wake Bobby up," Sam breathed. Even though the boys had assured Laney they would be fine, it seemed as though Sam was a bit put off by her dream. "He might have some ideas as to what we should do."

Dean nodded and stood from his place on the couch as Sam headed up the stairs towards Bobby's bedroom. "You gonna be alright?" He looked down at Laney. She nodded with a small smile in thanks and appreciation. The boys were both so attentive to how she was feeling and what she was experiencing, when they should be so wrapped up in their lives and the importance with what was to come. "Cas, I swear to God, no more droppin' in on her brain without her permission, no more appearing and scaring the shit out of anyone and no more knocking people unconscious without a heads up, got it?" Dean pointed at Cas sternly.

Castiel's brow furrowed as he pondered what Dean had demanded of him. "I do not recall scaring fecal matter out of anyone," he answered earnestly, which caused Laney to erupt with laughter.

She winced as the laughter made her double over and she felt the tug on her stiches. Dean managed a chuckle as he shook his head in amusement, yet there was a tinge of frustration.

"Jesus Christ, Cas," he muttered. "You have a lot to learn." He patted his angel friend on the back and glanced back to Laney. "You good?" He raised his eyebrows in anticipation of her response.

She nodded and tucked a fallen strand of dark blonde hair behind her ear before smiling a small smile. "Yeah, thanks."

Dean winked and managed a smile himself. "Be right back." And with that, he bounded after his brother up the stairs.

**AN: Hey guys! So I'm kinda on a roll with this, I just felt like writing tonight and TADA! This happened.**

**HUGE, massive 'thank you' to **_**Dean's Dirty Little Secret**_** for reviewing! I've never gotten a review on here so that brought the biggest smile to my face.**

**If you're reading and enjoying (or even if you have some criticism, questions or comments)—PLEASE feel free to leave them in a review! They're quite motivating! **

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I hope to have another one out to you tomorrow or Thursday.**

**xx**

**SM**


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